Southwest will anchor new John Wayne terminal - OC Register
Southwest Airlines will anchor the new Terminal C at John Wayne Airport when it opens next year. Any new airlines would likely move into the facility – though airport officials say new carriers aren’t currently in the airport’s short-range plans.
The airport released it’s planned line-up for airlines after it $543 million expansion from two to three terminals is completed in 2011.
The expansion will allow the airport to handle a maximum of 10.8 million passengers when completed, the number capped under an agreement with surrounding communities that will be in effect [until] 2015.
The airport is currently has openings for new airlines, especially since the departure of Virgin America in May. There is a “waiting list” of airlines that have expressed interest in serving Orange County, said airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.
The list includes discount carrier Air Tran, regional carrier Horizon Air, and Canadian discount carrier WestJet.
The new terminal will include facilities for future international flights. Currently the airport cannot handle immigrations and customs at the airport. The lone international arrival, a daily flight operated by Air Canada from Toronto, has passengers clear the required paperwork to enter the country with U.S. agents based at the Canadian airport. Passengers can deplane in Orange County as it if were a domestic flight.
Allegiant Air begins service to Long Beach -Press-Telegram
Allegiant Airlines made its debut flight Thursday into Long Beach Airport, joining recent arrival Frontier as the latest carrier at Daugherty Field.
Allegiant will operate five non-stop flights weekly to Stockton and three to northern Washington, just across the border from Vancouver, Canada.
May traffic stats mixed
The Wall Street Journal reports that North American air travel was up 11 percent in May. Passenger traffic statistics show a mixed rate of recovery at Southern California airports.
LAX passengers were up 6.6 percent for the month of May and 5.1 percent for 2010 year-to-date.
John Wayne traffic was flat in May but up 2.1 percent for the year.
Ontario posted a 0.7 percent improvement for May but is still down 2.1 percent for the year.
Palm Springs was up 10.7 percent in May and 4.9 percent year-to-date.
Long Beach and Bob Hope have yet to post May statistics but were both trailing 2009 results at the end of April.
New airport routes may still be noise nuisance - Daily Pilot
The Federal Aviation Administration has completely re-named the take-off procedure at John Wayne Airport. Now called STREL, the proposed route could be better received than its predecessors, DUUKE 1 and DUUKE 2. Newport Beach residents complained that those routes resulted in more noisy flights over their homes. Administrators are now back to the drawing board with their satellite-based flight navigation system.
But the proposed changes are already causing consternation among a new set of residents: those on the west side of the Back Bay, especially in the Dover Shores community. But their (anticipated) noise complaints, the latest in the history of John Wayne Airport, may fall on deaf ears. FAA and airport officials say that flights are within legal limits and they've already been extremely accommodating.
"We're modifying the procedure because we want to be responsive to the community," said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman. "We've really gone the extra mile in this case."
The FAA's goal is to direct flights down the center of the Back Bay, Gregor said. In April the agency shifted planes onto a course about 100 feet west of the previous route, but residents in eastside neighborhoods of The Bluffs and Irvine Terrace said flights were a big nuisance.
Now, Gregor said, they want to shift planes another 250 feet to the west, straight down the center line.
That's where the west side residents come in.
As long as the new route is within the range of the pre-satellite routes, then the FAA doesn't have to perform an in-depth environmental impact analysis, said Gregor.
That doesn't satisfy residents of either side of the bay, though.
"We're trying to balance a very, very tight situation," said Don Webb, the councilman representing Dover Shores and other neighborhoods on the west side, who spoke at last week's City Council meeting.
Website Editor: None of these folks had any sympathy for South County residents when Newport Beach was pushing for a major international airport at El Toro with flights low over thousands of homes.
FAA seeks tighter control at Long Beach Airport - LA Times
Concerned about a growing potential for midair collisions, especially over neighborhoods, the federal government is considering significant air traffic control changes at Long Beach Airport — a move opposed by some private pilots who say the proposals might create more problems than they solve.
The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed establishing so-called Class C airspace at Long Beach, which requires more communication with pilots and a higher level of monitoring by air traffic controllers than now exists. In addition, the proposal would increase by at least a third the area under air traffic control around the airport.
FAA officials say they are weighing the changes because of reports by airlines that collision warning systems in the cockpits of their planes — so-called TCAS devices — are being triggered more often during Long Beach flight operations.
If a midair collision occurred involving an airliner, scores of passengers could be killed and casualties could mount if the wreckage rains down on homes, office buildings, shopping centers or schools along flight paths.
June 21 - 27, 2010
[BUR] Runway getting $1M worth of repair - Glendale News Post
Bob Hope Airport officials Monday agreed to spend nearly $1 million on refurbishing the airfield, the first stage of a $13-million modernization effort.
The 555-acre airport, which last year served 4.6 million passengers and housed about 45 private jets, has two paved runways measuring 5,800 to 6,800 feet long.
The authority last month approved a $96-million budget, setting aside more than $50 million for environmental measures, airfield infrastructure and terminal improvements.
Officials began that effort this week by reinstating complimentary SuperShuttle service between the Bob Hope Airport and Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station.
June 14 - 20, 2010
Airport leaders OK Irvine urbanization plans - OC Register
The Orange County Airport Land Use Commission has approved Irvine's revised plans for high-rise, high density development within a more than 2,000-acre expanse of aging office and industrial space the city hopes to transform into a collection of new mixed-use projects known as the Irvine Business Complex.
Commissioners worried about new development in the airport's flight path voted in April to deny the Irvine Business Complex plan, a move that caught Irvine leaders off-guard, forcing them to cancel a planned council vote on the project.
The city addressed the airport commissions concerns by agreeing to limit the height of airport adjacent developments, including lowering plans for a building at the Irvine Concourse near Main and Jamboree from 20 stories to seven stories.
Passenger traffic at JWA remains flat in May -OC Metro
Passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport remained relatively flat in May, compared to the same time last year. The number rose only 0.04 percent in the period, with 739,421 travelers passing through the gates. Though small, the uptick marks the 10th straight month of year-over-year increases at the airport.
However, traffic declined from April, when 745,302 individuals were served at the local destination.
Numbers have fluctuated steadily between April and May over the last three years, according to airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge.
"There are so many variables of what could contribute to these changes," said Wedge, including the downturn in the economy, which has led many individuals to cut back on traveling.
Meanwhile, commuter, commercial and total aircraft operations fell in May, compared to the same time last year.
General aviation activity, which accounted for 60 percent of the total aircraft operations in May, increased 0.8 percent, compared to 2009.
News bit - LA Times
At least one Southern California airport has drawn up a plan to get passengers off delayed flights.
John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana has designated areas north and south of the terminal where airlines may unload passengers before the three-hour deadline expires.
The areas are set aside so airlines can park planes that can't take off because of bad weather or other problems — but that can't return to the crowded gates.
A mobile staircase has also been set aside so passengers can exit the planes, said airport spokeswoman Jenny Wedge. Airport shuttle buses would then take passengers back to the terminal, she said.
But the airport may not need to use the plan very often.
The last time the Orange County airport had a flight delayed more than three hours was Dec. 31, 2008, when a United Airlines flight was stuck on the tarmac for three hours and six minutes.
June 7 - June 13, 2010
John Wayne airport seeking public input
An e-mail survey from John Wayne Airport asks several questions including:
John
Wayne Airport has ten commercial airlines serving 20 non-stop
destinations in the United States and Canada. If there was one new
destination you’d like to reach from John Wayne Airport, what would
that be? (My answer, New York's JFK airport)
We continually aim to provide a safe, secure, first-class travel experience for our passengers. Please let us know what you think we could do to improve upon John Wayne Airport. (My answer, lengthen the runway so that we can have 757 capacity to destinations like New York and Florida. I also suggest keeping the night curfew and aircraft noise limits but eliminating the passenger caps.)
We continually aim to provide a safe, secure, first-class travel experience for our passengers. Please let us know what you think we could do to improve upon John Wayne Airport. (My answer, lengthen the runway so that we can have 757 capacity to destinations like New York and Florida. I also suggest keeping the night curfew and aircraft noise limits but eliminating the passenger caps.)
J.D. Power survey shows rising customer satisfaction with airline service - LA Times
JetBlue Airways is the highest-rated low-cost carrier, and Alaska Airlines tops traditional carriers.
Fees are rising, service can be lousy and … airline passengers are happier? Yes, according to a customer satisfaction survey released Tuesday.
Research company J.D. Power & Associates asked more than 12,300 passengers who flew between April 2009 and April this year to rate North American airlines on costs and fees, flight crew, in-flight services, aircraft, boarding/deplaning/baggage, check-in and reservations.
Compared with last year's survey, "performance improved across the board," said Stuart Greif, vice president and general manager of the global travel and hospitality practice at J.D. Power, based in Westlake Village.
JetBlue Airways, for the fifth year in a row, was the highest-rated low-cost carrier (Southwest Airlines was No. 2) and Alaska Airlines, for the third year in a row, topped traditional network carriers (Continental Airlines was No. 2).
Transportation center, other improvements coming to Bob Hope Airport - LA Times
A new budget approved this week for Bob Hope Airport is expected to pave the way for runway improvements and work on a new regional transit center. The 2010-11 budget by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority comes amid a drop in passenger traffic, fluctuating fuel costs and overall uncertainty regarding the national economic recovery. Despite ballooning by more than $20 million over last year, the budget does not increase charges to airlines or rely on reserves.
The budget forecasts a loss of $825,000 from investments and a $307,000 dip in landing fees. Southwest Airlines recently announced plans to phase out 12% of its weekly flights by September, although other carriers have added flights.
Included in the budget is $4.5 million for a passenger processing system, $11 million to rehabilitate two ramps and a runway shoulder, and $18 million on a regional transportation center.
The proposed $120-million center, which is working its way through the approval process, would link the airport with passenger trains, shuttles, buses, taxicabs and rental cars.
